MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — A global population of patients with prediabetes that is three times the size of those who already have Type 2 diabetes has led to intense competition between drug makers to launch drugs to treat the disease, according to a new report.

Frost & Sullivan’s report, "Analysis of the Global Type 2 Diabetes Therapeutic Market," found that 15 new drugs are in late-stage clinical trials or awaiting regulatory review. According to the American Diabetes Association, 25.8 million people in the United States are living with diabetes, mostly with Type 2, which is lifestyle-related, while 79 million people have prediabetes, defined as a condition in which patients are at risk of developing full-blown Type 2 diabetes.

"The Type 2 diabetes market continually advances, primarily due to the dominance of obesity," Frost & Sullivan life sciences global program director Jennifer Lazar Brice said. "Current studies of this increasingly competitive market are limited in their approach. Seeing this missed opportunity, we began addressing such markets in a new way. Our repositioned life sciences program includes therapeutic product and pipeline analyses and services focused on our clients’ proactive competitive intelligence goals."

The report found that a "tremendous" increase in Type 2 diabetes is in store, and the industry needs better ways to prevent the disease from progressing. This includes identifying the precursors to fully developed diabetes through preventive therapy.

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Sandoz relaunches biosimilars website

NEW YORK — Generic drug maker Sandoz has relaunched a website to promote its biosimilars business.

The global website aims to educate the public about biosimilars, which are knock-off versions of biotech drugs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 included a provision creating an abbreviated regulatory approval pathway for the drugs similar to the one created for generic pharmaceutical drugs by the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984. For the moment, companies looking to market a biosimilar version of a branded biologic in the United States must use the traditional approval pathway, including conducting three phases of clinical trial programs. A recent report by pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts found that if just a handful of biosimilars were to enter the market, patients and payers in the United States stood to save up to $250 billion between 2014 and 2024. Biotech drugs can often be extremely expensive, costing patients hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

The site includes information about biosimilars and a list of biosimilars currently undergoing clinical trials, including versions of Genentech and Biogen Idec’s autoimmune disorder and cancer treatment Rituxan (rituximab); Amgen’s drug for increasing white blood cell counts in patients undergoing chemotherapy, Neupogen (filgrastim) and Neulasta (pegfilgrastim); and Amgen and Pfizer’s autoimmune disorder treatment Enbrel (etanercept).

Currently, Sandoz, the generics division of Swiss drug maker Novartis, is one of a handful of companies that manufactures biosimilars, mainly for the European market. While the new law created a legal pathway, the Food and Drug Administration is still working on how to regulate them. The other principal companies that make biosimilars for the European market are U.S.-based Hospira and Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. In addition, Sandoz makes a biosimilar version of Pfizer’s growth-hormone treatment Genotropin (somatropin [rDNA origin]), branded as Omnitrope, in the United States. That drug was approved under a special consideration from the FDA in 2006.

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Jane Cosmetics relaunches, debuts at Ulta Beauty stores

GLENDALE, Calif. — Beauty line Jane Cosmetics has relaunched and debuted this month in more than 500 Ulta Beauty stores, with plans to expand to 65 more locations by the end of October.

"We are thrilled to announce this exciting partnership and proud to debut the new line at an established and esteemed retailer like Ulta Beauty," stated Jane Cosmetics owner and CEO Lynn Tilton. "In bringing back the Jane brand, we wanted to provide women access to the most innovative technologies in beauty, the most fashion-forward colors and designs, and the impeccable quality of high-end products to foster her confidence in her look and her choices. More important, the brand carries a message of philanthropy and giving that collectively creates the visual of a thousand blossoms blooming."

The launch will be supported with public relations and social media activations, in-store and Ulta Beauty catalog advertising, and an online gift-with-purchase promotion, which will release the week of Sept. 9.

The new Jane collection

To emphasize Jane’s philosophy that true beauty comes from giving back and that confidence comes in many colors, the new packaging features imagery showcasing the faces of "The Friends of Jane" — real, culturally diverse women who are giving back to their communities. The brand also features new formulas in a variety of on-trend shades and finishes.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Peggy Noonan, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and singer Diana Ross now feature on the schedule for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Annual Meeting, slated for April 21-24 in Palm Beach, Fla.

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